Hill-Thomas takes success from basketball to business

When Garry Hill-Thomas decided to become a player in the active lifestyle and team sports apparel marketplace, he knew the route to success would necessitate finding a niche amid global heavyweights such as Nike and Adidas, managing overhead costs, and building a business team he could trust.

Only then could Reno-based Gladiator Athletics begin to nibble away at the corners of the giants who battle daily in what has grown to be a $50 billion global market.

Hill-Thomas, a member of the 2003-2004 University of Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball team that shocked both Michigan State and Gonzaga in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, earned a degree in marketing from UNR.

After graduation, he signed to play professional basketball. During a a two-year stint for a New Zealand team, he began to develop the idea of a business that would design and customize jerseys and other sports apparel.

"When I came back here to Reno, I would hang out at local high schools and local gyms. I started focusing on the apparel the kids were wearing and thought that I could do apparel better than the next guy," he says.

Better than Nike or Adidas?

"Most sales reps show a coach five designs, tell them to pick one and then change the colors," he says. "We don't do that. We customize everything. The McQueen High girls basketball coach wanted camouflage on the sides. We did that and at a cheaper cost."

Although a native of Oakland, Calif., Hill-Thomas had developed good connections in the Reno area. He knew the high school coaches and had recreational center contacts. Friends in the Bay Area who ran their own businesses offered good advice and encouragement.

The 27-year-old basketball player's company began to take shape and, in 2007, Gladiator Athletics arrived. Since then, schools such as McQueen, Hug, and Reno have signed on as clients. So have Dayton and Lowry of Winnemucca. The company also has handled work for teams in the Bay Area, Idaho, and as far away as Virginia and Atlanta, says Hill-Thomas.

Presently, Gladiator Athletics' manufacturing outlets are in China, The Philippines and India.

"I am starting to do more things locally," Hill-Thomas says, "and would like eventually to move all manufacturing here. But, for right now, it is where it is."

Hill-Thomas said he can't take credit for coming up with the name of his company. That credit, he says, goes to current Wolf Pack men's head basketball coach David Carter who was an assistant coach when Hill-Thomas arrived at Nevada as a freshman.

During the summer of his freshman year, Hill-Thomas was playing in a league in the Bay Area. He wasn't getting any playing time and wanted to quit. Carter told him to stick with it.

"Coach said, 'Garry, when you do get in the game, you play as hard as you can. Play with passion and heart and win the crowd over. I want you to play like a gladiator.' I've never forgotten those words. And that is how we are running this business today. With passion and heart. Play like a gladiator and win the crowd over," he says.

Hill-Thomas used his own money to get the company off the ground.

"I don't have a big company with a big marketing budget. But I have devised a way to get out and market our product line. We do it by creating community events like the two-day flag football tournament we did in July. It was very successful. Once teams put my clothing on and see it on the court or on the field, they see the difference in quality," he adds. "We sold a lot of product."

The flag football tournament was so successful, he says, that he and Mike Wurm, chief professional officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, have agreed to develop another community sporting event.

"We want to create a middle school basketball tournament next year for boys and girls. This is another way to create a community-based event that will be fun for the entire family, and also provide more exposure for our products," he says.

Working out of the home he shares with his wife, Rosana, and two-month old son, Hill-Thomas is able to hold down expenses. He has also turned it into a family-friendly enterprise. Staffing includes an aunt, close college friends, and his attorney-mother and stepfather who handle all the licensing with collegiate marketing firms.

"I like to keep it in the family because these are the people you can trust most, especially in business," he says.

Sales, Hill-Thomas says, have more than met expectations.